Most clients are a pleasure. Occasionally one isn't, and you need a way to make sure they can't book again. Blocking handles that, and you can do it from anywhere you'd normally pull a customer up.
There are two levels:
Block for Me — the customer can't book with you. Everyone else at your shop is unaffected.
Block for Shop — the customer can't book with anyone at your shop.
⚠️ Block for Shop is available to managers and admins on studio accounts. Individual artists can block a customer for themselves.
💻 From the browser
Log in at app.getporter.io.
Click Customers in the left-hand menu.
Find the customer and click View Customer.
Click the three dots in the top-right corner of their profile.
Select Block for Shop.
📱 From the mobile app
However you get there, you'll land on the customer's profile, tap the three dots in the top-right corner, and choose Block for Me or Block for Shop. Only the route to the profile changes.
From a chat
Open the chat with the customer.
Tap the three dots in the top-right corner.
Select View Customer.
From a request in Your Turn
Open the request.
Tap the three dots.
Select View Customer's Profile.
From a request in Their Turn
Open the request.
Scroll down to the Contact section.
Tap the arrow on the right side of that section.
Open the customer profile.
🚫 What a block stops
Blocking cuts off new business at the door. The customer can't:
Submit a booking request
Book flash
Reschedule an appointment
Check in through the Walk-in Queue
Join your Waitlist
Your booking form turns them away before anything is created, so no request lands in your queue. On their end, they see "Booking Unavailable."
Their chat thread stays open, but goes read-only for them — you can still see the history and send a message, they can't reply.
💡 Blocking is quiet. The customer isn't notified. They only find out if they try to book or message you.
✅ What a block doesn't touch
Just as important as what it stops:
Upcoming appointments stay on the books. Blocking doesn't cancel anything, and deposits stay put. If you want the appointment gone, cancel it separately — normal deposit rules apply.
Open requests stay where they are. A request in Your Turn or Their Turn doesn't move on its own. The customer can't push it forward anymore, but it'll sit there until you reject or archive it yourself.
Marketing keeps sending. Blocked customers still receive your email and SMS campaigns. If you don't want them hearing from you, pull them from the audience directly.
🔓 Unblocking
There's no separate list of blocked customers. A blocked customer carries a "Blocked" badge on their profile, and you unblock from the same three-dot menu you used to block them.
Managers and admins can lift a shop block. Personal blocks are yours alone — each artist reverses their own.
⚠️ One limit worth knowing
A block follows the customer's account, which means guest profiles under that account are covered too — a parent blocked at the shop level can't book for their kid either.
What it can't catch is the same person coming back through a different account with a new phone number. If that happens, block the new account as well.
Dealing with a difficult client situation? Reach out to our support team — we're happy to talk it through.
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